


Perks of a Boyfriend

by tokyo10



Series: Hard Times Lead to Better Things [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Menstruation, No Gods AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 09:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9314831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tokyo10/pseuds/tokyo10
Summary: Nico gets a call from Sally at the ass crack of dawn.





	

To say Nico was confused would be an understatement. Early this morning Nico received a call from Sally asking if he could pick Nolen up and bring him to his grandma’s house. So here he was, standing in front of his boyfriend’s apartment, waiting for the door to be unlocked and opened.

Is Percy okay? Is he sick? Maybe after I drop Nolen off, I’ll come back and keep him company. Nico mused. 

“Neeco!” A seven-year-old yelled, giving just a second’s head’s up as the small body collided with Nico’s middle, pushing him back a few steps.

“Hey, bambino. Is your stuff all ready to go?” Nico looked down.

“Yea-huh!” Nolen answered, giving a grin and dashing off towards his superhero themed bedroom.

“Where’s your mom?”

“Mama’s in his bedroom,” Nolen called back. 

Nico walked down the hall stopping at the master bedroom and knocked.

“Nolen, I thought I told you to go and watch TV.” Percy’s pained voice moaned from the other side.

“Not Nolen,” Nico answered amused.

“...Nico?” Percy asked confused. 

“The one and only.” He opened the door and stepped through and stopped. The room was completely black, the only light coming through was from the hallway. There was a large heap of squirming blankets in the middle of the queen sized bed. Nico wanted to laugh but held it back in fear of getting smacked by his boyfriend. 

Nico walked to the side of the blanket covered bed and sat down. Pulling the blankets away from Percy’s face. Messy black hair was even messier, a pout sat on those luscious lips and a blush covered Percy’s cheeks, his sea green eyes were drowsy and pained. 

Percy heaved himself up onto his hands, grimacing. “Nico, what are you doing here?”

“Your Mom called me and asked if I can come and pick Nolen up, her car is in the shop. Are you feeling okay?” Nico pet Percy’s hair, making the older male sink back onto the bed.

“Peachy.” Was Percy’s response, he was nestled back into his pile.

Nico sighed at the lack of response his boyfriend had given him. Percy didn’t look sick but something was obliviously wrong with him.  Nico just didn’t know what, his mind flash back to last month when Percy shot him a text saying he had to cancel on their date, at the time, all Nico did was shrug and pick a different date with Percy, now he was wondering if today and last month were linked.

“I’m ready!” Called the excited seven-year-old standing by the door.

Once again, Percy popped out of the blankets and gestured his son over, who happily bound over and crawled onto the bed, placing a sloppy kiss on his Mama’s nose. “You feel better okay.” His smile mirrors Percy’s on a normal day.

“I will baby. You be good for Grandma and Grandpa.” Percy caressed Nolen's hair.

“I will. Bye Mama.” He jumped off the bed. Percy moaned.

“Bye, Nolen,” He faced Nico. “Thank you for bringing Nolen to my parents.”

“It’s not a problem.” Nico kissed Percy’s forehead. “Just take care of yourself, okay.”

Percy rolled onto his back. “Gods, what did I ever do to deserve you.” He smiled.

Nico smiled and kissed Percy again.”I think I should be the one asking that question, amore.”

Getting off the bed, Nico cast one last look over his shoulder. “C’mon, Nolen, let get going.”

“M’kay. Love you, Mama” Nolen yelled. 

Percy smiled.

“Thank you for doing this, Nico.” Sally smiled as Nolen rushed past her and into the house.

“No problem, Mrs. Blofis. I’d do anything for Percy.” He looked down in mild embarrassment as he scuffed his shoes on the cement, his hands fiddling with his ring. “What  _ is  _ wrong with Percy? He wouldn’t tell me.”

His head shot up with the sound of Sally’s dainty laughter. “Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, it’s just that I can see why my son loves you. You are adorable, Nico. And please, call me Sally” Sally smiled in that motherly way of hers. “As for Percy, it’s nothing a bit of ibuprofen and time won’t fix.”

Nico’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. With a shake of her head, Sally stepped aside and gestured in. “Knowing Percy, he won’t explain things, would you like to come in for some coffee and I’ll explain?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Nico nodded, grateful.

A raised eyebrow and a look only a mother could give made Nico change his sentence. “Yes please, Sally.”

“There we go, dear.” She led the way into the kitchen. 

Seated with a hot cup of coffee and a plate of chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the table, Sally began her explanation.

“You know my son is a carrier, right.” At Nico’s nod,  she continued on. “Well to put things in simple terms, carriers experience something of a menstrual cycle. But the only difference between carriers and females is, carriers don’t bleed.” Nico paled thinking about what his boyfriend was going through. He remembers how crabby and downright miserable his cousin and sister were on their period. Excessive crying over movies and chocolate and death threats were a thing.

“Is. Is it usually this bad?” 

Sally nodded solemnly. “Percy has the unfortunate luck of horrible cramps and nausea during his time of his monthly cycle. He used to think he would be okay taking some painkillers and get on with his day but Paul or I would be called and asked if we could pick him up early because he has fallen unconscious or has gotten sick. After a large number of times it’s happened, he realized that staying home and taking a few days off is a better alternative.”

“Has Percy seen a doctor about it?”

“Yes, but all the doctor says is it’s normal and he’s just part of an unlucky percentage but gave Percy a doctor's note explaining his situation so his employers can’t give him trouble for calling in sick.”

“I see.” Nico went silent as he took a gulp of his coffee. “I’m guessing you take Nolen while Percy is, uh, indisposed.” Sally nodded. 

Speaking of the devil, Nolen appeared and crawled onto his grandma’s lap, rolling a car on the table. She kissed Nolen’s head. “Yep. Usually, I go pick him up but there is the rare occurrence when one of Percy’s friends graciously drop him off in exchange for home-baked cookies.” She winked.

“Hey, Grandma,” 

“Yes, Honey?” Sally looked down at her grandson.

“Is Mama gonna be okay without me?” Nico could have sworn his heart melted.

“Of course your Mama’s going to be fine.”

Innocent eyes looked up with as much concern a seven-year-old can muster. “He won’t be lonely?”

“No.” Sally kissed the top of his head again and held him tighter. 

“You promise?”

Sally opened her mouth but Nico beat her to the chase. “No bambino, I’m going to go back and keep your Mama company, sound good?”

Nolen nodded with enthusiasm. Sally nudged the boy. “What do you say to Nico?”

Nolen offered Nico a huge grin. “Thank you Neeco!”

Sally mouthed a thank you as well.

Downing the cooling coffee, Nico took his mug to the sink and passed the two cuddling on the kitchen chair, ruffling the boy's hair with a grin.”I’d better get going Bambino.”

“Bye, bye Neeco.”

“See ya, Nolen.”

“Goodbye and thank you, Nico.”

“Bye, Sally. Thank you for explaining things and for the coffee.”

“It’s no problem dear.”

For the second time that day, Nico found himself knocking on Percy’s apartment door.

“Go away.” Yelled Percy’s irate voice.

“I come bearing gifts,” Nico yelled back.

It took a few minutes but the door unlocked and opened revealing Percy. He was wearing a gray worn out T-shirt that housed Captain America’s shield and blue and green flannel pajama pants. His dark hair was just as bad as it had been earlier and in the light, Nico could see his boyfriend was flushed and tired. A frown marred his face and dark bags laid under sea green eyes. A blanket was wrapped around his shoulders, held to his chest by his left hand. Percy was leaning on the door frame.

“What are you doing here, Nico?” Even his voice was tired but Nico didn’t think anything of it. 

“Please don’t peg me for the inconsiderate asshole who leaves his boyfriend alone when he’s in pain.” He held up the white plastic grocery bag. “Plus, as I said earlier, I come bearing gifts.”

Percy’s lips tiled in a passable smile and switched his weight to the door, opening it more and letting his boyfriend in. Nico took Percy’s free hand and led him to the living room, where the pile of blankets that were previously on Percy's bed had migrated on the couch. The  _ Netflix  _ home screen was on the television. A glass of water sat on the otherwise empty coffee table.

Steering Percy to the front of the couch, Nico pushed him down and threw a thick blanket on him then walked to the kitchen and grabbed two spoons. Nico nudged Percy’s foot with his, a silent request to move over. Percy did but as soon as Nico sat down and got comfortable, he found himself with a Percy snuggling up into his side so Nico moved his arm to lay across Percy’s shoulder, pulling his boyfriend closer and showed him the spoons and ice cream.

Percy looked at the spoons and then looked at Nico. “I take it Mom told you.”

Nico nodded. “Yes, she also told me how bad it was. So from what I remember about living with my sister and cousin, I have brought chocolate ice cream.” He produced the tub of said ice cream and handed Percy one of the spoons.

The two dug into the ice cream and played  _ Maleficent. _ They were at the end of  _ How to Train Your Dragon 2  _ when Nico broke the comfortable silence. “Is this the reason why you canceled out date last month?”

Percy looked down in shame but nodded. Nico moved his arm and lifted Percy’s chin so dark brown met sea green. “Please don’t be ashamed of this Percy, it’s part of what you are.”

“I know it’s nothing to be ashamed about. It’s just embarrassing, carriers aren’t that common and some people get grossed out or treat me differently when they find out. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid about how you would act. I don’t want to be treated differently. Not by you.” Percy stuck a spoon full of melting ice cream in his mouth.

Nico kissed him on the cheek. “No matter what amore, I will love you and I will not treat you like you are delicate like you are a porcelain doll.”

“Gods, I love you.” Percy snuggled close, burying his face into his lovers shoulder. A few seconds later his eyes went wide and his already flushed cheeks burned even brighter. “Ahh, I. Er.” A finger placed on his lips stopped the babbling before it could start.

“I love you, Percy Jackson.” Nico kissed Percy’s temple. 

“I love you, Nico di Angelo.”

They started the next movie,  _ Avengers: Age of Ultron _ , watching it in compatible silence. The empty ice cream tub sat on the coffee table with the used spoons inside. Nico sat watching the movie intently, a light feeling entering his chest at every laugh that came from Percy’s lips. Nico looked down when they were just about at the final battle, Percy’s eyes were closed and his breathing was deep, fist loosely curled into Nico’s shirt. 

“Sweet dreams, Mio amore.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please correct my Italian if there is anything wrong with it.


End file.
